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SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 



REV. CHARLES BEECHER'S OPINION 

REVIEWED. 



m& 



REVIEW 



OF THE 



CONCLUSION OF REV. CHARLES BEECHER, 



REFERRING THE 



MANIFESTATIONS OF THE PRESENT TIME 



THE AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS 




BY JOHN S. ADAMS 
• > 

AUTHOR OP "ANSWERS TO SEVENTEEN OBJECTIONS. 



" He shall give his angels charge over thee. 5 
"Are they not all ministering spirits V" 







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NEW-YORK: $% 

PARTRIDGE AND BRITTAN, 300 BROADWAY. 

PHILADELPHIA I B. PERCIVAL, 89 SOUTH SIXTH ST. 

BOSTON! BELA MARSH, 25 CORNHILL. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 

John S. Adams, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



ARE THE MANIFESTATIONS MADE BY 
EVIL SPIRITS? 



The conclusion of the report on Spiritual Man- 
ifestations made by Rev. Charles Beecher, before 
a Ministerial Association of Brooklyn, is, that the 
various manifestations now occurring are actually 
produced by the spirits of the departed, but that 
they are caused only by evil spirits. In this 
opinion many popular minds coincide — the 
majority of them coming to this conclusion, not 
as the result of a personal examination, but from 
a judgment resting solely on the expressed opin- 
ions of others, who it may be, have examined, but 
whose minds are so limited in their views, or so 
chained to preconceived ideas of truth as to lead 
them to no very liberal conclusions. 

Popularity, however, is no sure indication of 
the truth of the conclusion, for if the assent of 
popular minds is required to establish the truth of 
any doctrine, we can have but little faith in all 
the great truths coming to us from past researches. 

Look to Christ and his religion. Who believed 
Him while on earth, or embraced the doctrines he 



b SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

set forth ? Why, a few humble fishermen were 
his closest adherents ; while the learned, the 
popular minds of the times — those who were 
looked up to as instructors of the people — said he 
had a devil — gave it as their opinion that he was 
turning the world upside down with error. 
Thousands ridiculed Him, because popular minds 
led the way. It is the same now. Human 
nature changes not. Similar circumstances pro- 
duce similar results; and to-day you will see 
popular minds giving it as their opinion that these 
manifestations proceed from the devil, and lo, a 
mighty host follow after, subscribing to the same 
idea. 

Christ healed all manner of sickness and all 
manner of disease, and gave his disciples power 
to do likewise, but to the stubborn and unbeliev- 
ing all these proofs of- his goodness and of his com- 
ing from God brought no conviction. To-day that 
power, continuing among his disciples, is exer- 
cised, and many mighty things are done. Then, 
it was attributed to the devil. Now, the demo- 
niac agency has the credit of performing the same 
holy things. 

The cry to-day, "away with these truths — 
they are evil, all evil," is instigated by the same 
natural mind that led the multitude to shout in 
the Saviour's ears. "Away with Him, Crucify 
Him — Crucify Him." 



ARE THEY ALL EVIL? 7 

Popularity, therefore is no evidence for ®r 
against the truth of any subject. Error has 
always been popular. Holiness is not popular. 
Religion pure and undefiled, is not popular. The 
mass of mankind see no beauties in Christ for 
them to admire. See no hope in His atonement 
on which to repose. The popular of mankind is 
he whose wholesale murders qualify him for the 
title of "Hero f whose highest ambition is earthly 
fame. Pilate was popular, when he signed the 
death-warrant of Him who had no sin. But 
in what place in the popular mind was found the 
Son of God ? He was spit upon and mocked — 
He was crowned with thorns and given vinegar to 
drink. He bore his cross up the rugged heights 
of Calvary, and died with but few to stand up for 
persecuted but not vanquished Truth. 

In all this strife, in all this conflict for popularity 
the true man is not to be found. Man does not 
like to have his sins rebuked. The " true man " 
will rebuke them, — therefore he is not popular. 
You must not look for him in the crowd of earthly 
aspirants. You must go silently to the hearth- 
stone of the poor, the almost forgotten. You 
must go to the home of the thoughtful, to the 
circle meeting for truths which distil from heaven, 
and there you will find him. Yes, find him 
feeding his soul on that food for which " popular 
minds " have no desire ; food as exhaustless as 



8 SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

that which fed the five thousand, and of which he 
may partake through all eternity, and yet there 
will be twelve baskets of fragments remaining. 

He knows that which he believes to be true ; 
he is willing to prove it so, but these leading 
minds, — having too much to risk in darling 
opinions, unwilling to yield them to the truth 
without one last, strong effort to resist — say it is 
all from the evil one — he hath a devil. 

Popular minds have decided that all of these 
glorious manifestations are produced by evil 
spirits ! 

If this conclusion be true, then our dearest 
friends are " spirits of evil." The child you fold- 
ed to your bosom, gave one parting kiss, and 
laid down to sleep that sleep which wakes in a 
better world, is an evil spirit. The parent, the 
wife, the husband — -they whose lives were holy 
and pure — they who went about doing good, are 
evil spirits. They are the agents of Satan going 
about doing the will of the Prince of Demons ! 

This is the unavoidable conclusion to which 
the advocates of the evil agency of these manifes- 
tations must arrive, for these departed friends 
prove their identity in every possible way which 
they or we can devise. If you still persist in call- 
ing these spirit-visitants evil, tell me where are 
the good who have left this sphere of existence. 
In what far-off region are they confined ? You 



ARE THEY ALL EVIL f 9 

tell me that the spirits of evil are permitted to 
come to earth and hold intercourse with those 
whom they have left behind — to comfort them 
with words of peace to light up the dark valley 
of the shadow of death, — to convince beyond the 
shadow of a doubt of a future life. Evil spirits are 
thus the blessed ministrants, while the spirits of 
the good and holy are separated from all the 
kindred souls they loved on earth. You say they 
can never hover o'er us ; never manifest them- 
selves j never whisper to us of hope here nor of 
joys hereafter ; The mourning may mourn, but no 
spirit-mother shall be near to comfort them. The 
weary may faint, but no token of heavenly aid 
shall be granted. Far away from all the loved of 
earth, you tell me the spirits of the blessed exist, 
and look down, it may be, on spirits of evil enter- 
ing the abodes of their dearest friends, deceiving 
them and leading them to destruction, while they 
are not permitted to leave their spirit home to 
breathe one breath of warning or impart one word 
of hope and consolation ! 

Where is that band of ministering spirits? 
On what lofty height stands that great cloud of 
witnesses ? Through whose merits are demoniac 
spirits blest with the privilege of holding inter- 
course with friends and relations on earth while 
the good, holy and just are denied so great a 
blessing ! 



10 SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

O, what inconsistent, unreasonable, ungodly 
doctrine ! How opposed to truth. How at va- 
riance with the eternal principles of justice, and 
how abhorrent in the sight of God must it be. 

" By their fruits ye shall know them." The com- 
munications, all of them, when received through 
passive mediums have a good tendency, advising us 
to love God, to do good, to read the Bible, and to 
refrain from all manner of evil. Thousands have 
by these manifestations been brought to a knowl- 
edge of the light. Those who saw no evidence 
of another life, now rejoice in the future that awaits 
them.* Vicious men have been reformed. Drunk- 
ards drink no more. The Profane use with rev- 
erence the holy name of God. Sabbath-breakers 
hail the day of rest as a time of devotional study. 
The sick have been healed. The lame made to 



* It is useless for you to say that "saving faith" must exist without 
the interposition of such manifestations, for the bible is full of conver- 
sions produced by precisely such means. A short time since the writer 
listened to a discourse on faith. The preacher went on in the old 
track, saying that Faith must create conviction without any such aid 
as these manifestations are said to impart. But this same man near 
the close of the same discourse alluded to the conversion of Paul, and 
of the Jailor as instances in support of his argument! 

Why, these very conversions were brought about by spiritual mani- 
festations very similar to those now occurring. Paul was converted 
through the instrumentality of alight brighter than the sun at noonday, 
and the Jailor beheld the evidence of spiritual life in the opening 
of prison doors. Do not tell me these strong evidences are not re- 
quired. God gave them to man in scriptural times, and the same 
Almighty being that changes not will grant them to his creatures to-day. 



ARE THEY ALL EVIL ? 11 

walk. The blind to see. Judging from these 
fruits, by what rule do you condemn the cause as 
evil? Certainly not by the rule laid down by 
Christ. No. It is by the same rule' by which 
men of old said of the Saviour, " He hath a devil." 
It is the same rule which governed those haughty 
nations who saw nothing but evil and no good 
in Apostles and Prophets, and all whom we esteem 
the holy and wise of scriptural times — the rule 
by which they judged them worthy of death, by 
which the Saviour of the world was crucified and 
thousands of his followers made martyrs. The 
decision you have arrived at, Pilate reached. Her- 
od, governed by that rule, sent for the head of John 
the Baptist to gratify the inhuman caprice of a 
favorite. 

From the earliest times to the present the self- 
wise, the unwilling to come to light, to know truth, 
have attributed every thing that clashed with 
preconceived opinions to be of the devil. Look at 
history and you will find this true. In religion, 
science and politics, to the devil has been attri- 
buted all that eventually proved to be sound, 
fundamental truth. It is not stran ge , therefore , that 
this truth is passed over to the same condemnation. 

"We are asked, " When the Son of Man cometh 
will he find faith on the earth ? " Here is a ques- 
tion which it would be well for these learned 
committees to answer. Would Christ find faith ? 



12 SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

Suppose He should come, how many think you 
would acknowledge him ? Would not ministerial 
associations decide that he was an imposter ; 
would not they ascribe all his works to electricity or 
an undiscovered law of nature ? I think they would. 

Yea, I almost know he would be condemned 
as at his first coming, with the charge that 
spirits of evil acted through Him. Why is it that 
the church is so unwilling to admit this great 
Scriptural truth of spiritual intercourse? They 
who should have been the first to embrace it, and 
hail the dawn of the millennial morn with shouts 
of peace on earth, good will to men, stand like 
faltering Peter, trembling on the agitated waters, 
and dare not proceed. 

But one great step is gained by the report of Mr. 
Beecher. He acknowledges that these manifes- 
tations are produced by Spirits. Will not this ac- 
knowledgment induce you to examine carefully? 
considerately, and with an earnest desire to know 
the truth by personal inquiry and research ? Will 
not the question naturally arise, " If evil spirits are 
permitted to communicate with me, are not 
good spirits equally privileged ?" 

A close and candid examination will inevitably 
result in a realization of the fact that good spirits 
do communicate — for you would be convinced of 
the identity of those who purported to be your 
friends, and you would not look upon them as evil. 



ARE THEY ALL EVIL ? 13 

Mr. Beecher rests his assumption on the fact 
that some communications advance doctrines en- 
tirely at variance with those he himself entertains. 

If his views and theological opinions are infalli- 
ble, then it were well for him to hold them up as 
a pattern by which to form onr own ; but since 
many doctrines that have been confidently believed 
in, and positively asserted to be true, have been 
proved false, or partly so, by the developments of 
time, is it not possible that some at least of Mr. 
Beecher's opinions may rest on weak foundations ? 

I do not say that his doctrines are erroneous. I 
express no opinion in this connection, for or 
against them ; but taking the history of the past, 
and the fact of the weakness of human judgment 
as our rule, is it not reasonable to suppose it 
possible for Mr. Beecher to err ? 

That good spirits and evil spirits exist, is a fact 
supported by the history of past ages, the word of 
God, and the personal experience of every human 
being that has existed or does now exist on the 
earth. All religions, whether christian or heathen, 
recognize good and evil spirits, and the influence 
of both classes over human affairs. The present 
is the first age in which reasoning men have 
deliberately come to the conclusion that there are 
none but evil spirits influencing mankind. 

We are told to " try the spirits." Does not this 
injunction imply that there are more than one kind 
[2] 



14 SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

of spirits who hold intercouse with man ? for no 
need of trial would exist if they were all of one 
kind — if they were all evil. 

In the same chapter in which we are told to 
try the spirits, we are given a rule by which to 
try them. " Every spirit that confesseth that Je- 
sus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God ; And 
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ 
is come in the flesh, is not of God." There are 
spirits who do not thus confess. There are also 
spirits who do. Is not the direction plain ? And 
is it not equally plain that though some of the 
spirits who visit us are evil others are good. Why 
need we err in this matter ? Why should we deny 
the existence of good spirits or of evil spirits, when 
all the experience of the past and of the present 
proves conclusively the existence of both. 

Mr. Beecher seems to have become blinded, 
and to have lost that clear sighted discrimination 
which usually characterizes him. He has judged 
of the tree by a few withered branches, and con- 
demned all the fruit of the vine, because he has 
plucked a few sour grapes that had not enough of 
the sunlight of truth to ripen them. 

In saying that the communications received 
invariably deny bible truths, Mr. Beecher and all 
others who class with him are in error. The 
communications are not, all of them, of the kind 
he represents them to be. I do not know where 



ARE THEY ALL EVIL? 16 

those who subscribe to such an assertion make 
their examinations, but I do know that I can show 
them communications as fully in support of the 
Bible and its doctrines as any sermon ever deliv- 
ered. If these deniers of truths as palpable as 
sunlight will go to the right source they will re- 
ceive unalloyed truths, which the most sceptical 
must confess to be from God ; but if in their desire 
to prove our departed friends, the loved of earth 
who once sat with us around the family altar, 
spirits of evil, demons of darkness, they go to un- 
developed mediums, or take as facts the idle stories, 
surmises and falsehoods of the scorners of all truth, 
they may possibly, obtain a refuse stock for a 
foundation on which to erect their structure of 
error. 

Mankind should be impressed with this truth — 
as is the spirit when it leaves this world, so it is 
when it enters the spiritual. It does not at once 
become better or worse. It does not immediately 
enter the holy of holies or the temple of Baal. 
There is nothing in the mere change to alter 
the spirit's condition. As the spirit believes 
when it leaves this sphere, so, in most cases, it 
will continue to believe, for sometime — longer or 
shorter, depending altogether on its willingness 
to accede to truth. And when wrong beliefs 
are entertained by the spirit in the flesh, they 
will be cherished by the same spirit when out 



16 SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

of the flesh, though all it beholds and expe- 
riences proves that belief to be wrong. This is 
made evident by examples presented by spirits 
now in the material body. Take those composing 
the committee before whom the report of Mr. 
Beecher was read. With what denunciations 
Rev. Mr. Cheever saluted the proposition even 
to read Mr. B.'s conclusions, so sensitive is the 
mind when darling opinions are touched, and so 
fearful is it that its cherished doctrines, wheth- 
er right or wrong, will be undermined. Another 
of the committee moved that it be read and if 
right be published. Astonishing leniency ! It is 
this strong, almost immovableadherence to certain 
views and opinions which constitutes the greatest 
obstacle in the way of many minds to the adop- 
tion of the manifest truth that good spirits are 
now holding communion with man on earth. 

But a change will eventually come, both as 
regards spirits in the body and spirits out of the 
body. In the spiritual world they cannot forever 
resist the overwhelming evidence, and they yield, 
it may be with a struggle. In this world, accu- 
mulative evidence gathering from every part of our 
country ; facts, undeniable, coming from individ- 
uals upon whom the subject has been forced, not 
by man but by spirits themselves, — the spirits of 
parents coming to the homes of their children, of 
husbands and wives communing with the com- 



ARE THEY ALL EVIL ? 17 

panions left behind, assuring them that they are 
around to cheer and bless them ; of children 
whose sinless lives here qualified them for holy 
lives there ; all this will press upon the public 
mind with such a resistless force that no power 
which bigotry, scepticism and ignorance can create 
will prevent it from yielding to the truth, and fully 
accepting that which a mighty host which no man 
can number presents as a blessing without money 
and without price. 

Let it be known now and forever that Spirit- 
ualists as a class are not responsible for the wild 
schemes and irrationalities of unbalanced minds ; 
visionary enthusiasts and ultra-believers in Spirit 
Intercourse. There are minds that grasp at any- 
thing and at everything ; minds so elated with the 
fact that they can commune with those whom 
they had thought gone to a " bourne from whence 
no traveller returns," that they accept the real and 
the ideal, and embrace without distinction both 
substance and shadow. 

I see no reason why the thoughtful and the 
cautions should be ranked in such a class, or held 
accountable for such vagaries. The unqualified 
acquiescence in the doctrines given by spirits, by 
some persons, is a perfectly natural operation of 
the mind. This is one extreme, bad, indeed, 
but perhaps no worse than its opposite indulged in 
by thousands who deny the reality of these 



18 SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

manifestations : The one class take all with slight, 
if in fact any, proof; the other, incredulous and 
over cautious, believe nothing which their ances- 
tors did not believe five hundred years ago, though 
an endless amount and variety of proof is present- 
ed. When, therefore, you tell us of unbalanced 
minds adopting strange and unreasonable doc- 
trines, look to yourselves, unwilling to admit that 
the sun shines or a truth equally as evident. Turn 
back the pages of history and learn with whom 
you rank. With the children of Israel, doubting 
and halting between two opinions, with the Jews, 
denying their Lord ; with the disciples of a false 
religion hunting the humble believers in truth to 
dens and caves of the earth ; with those who 
thrust Galileo into inquisitorial prisons because he 
proclaimed a truth. 

In this discussion something must be wrong, or 
else all the laws that govern moral nature are 
suspended, for I see the professedly zealous chris- 
tian and the avowed infidel, arm in arm, like 
brothers of one faith, walking up to the altar of 
Public Opinion and uniting in their denial of the 
Scripture doctrine of ministering spirits, — the one 
making void the ruling power of God and his holy 
angels, the other denying their existence. 

Christians, and lovers of truth, know ye what 
ye do ? In countenancing the theory that these 
manifestations are produced by material causes 



ARE THEY ALL EVIL? 19 

and not by divine power through spiritual agen- 
cies, you strike a desperate blow at the foundation 
of your cherished religion. You deny all similar 
events recorded in the Bible, for if natural causes 
produce such results now, they produced them 
eighteen hundred years ago. Thus you see that 
the inevitable end of your opposition to truth is 
to make yourselves sceptics, and the Bible a false- 
hood.* 

Christ healed the sick, did many wondrous 
things, and said that those who believed should do 
the same. (Mark 16:) That promise is being 
fulfilled, and you say that all its results are caused 
by Electricity, Mesmerism or some unknown 
law of Nature. If so, all the acts of Christ were 
produced by the same causes. With your theory 
and all the facts of the past and the present, you 
cannot avoid such a conclusion. Are you willing 
to adopt it ? Have the Christian ministry, the 
press and the people become so reckless as blindly 
to come to such a decision ? 

If, on the contrary you are willing to admit that 
these manifestations are produced by spirits, but 
only by evil spirits, have you any assurance that 
all the events of scriptual times were not produced 



* Dr Kichmond, writing in opposition to the truth of spiritual Inter- 
course, says — " Christ did not rise from the dead — and what his 
disciples saw were reflections of their own ideas." 



20 SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

by the same evil agencies ? For the charge you 
bring now was brought then. The same proofs 
that these manifestations are partly from good and 
partly from evil spirits are given as were given of 
those. 

We are all seeking for truth. Prove to me that 
the Spiritual Intercourse of the present time is 
wrong, and I will be among the first to discoun- 
tenance it. But a thousand facts attest to the 
truth and to the holiness of it. A thousand rea- 
sons urge me to defend it as from God. I labor 
under no illusion when I see in the present, 
indications of a brighter future ; and, despite the 
weak malice of foes, the jealousies of professing 
christians, and the sophistries of the men of the 
world, I feel assured that this truth will triumph, 
for it is of God. and it cannot be overthrown. 



Immortality, or the existence of the soul after 
the death of the body, and the continuance of that 
existence forever is an undisputed truth. Taking 
this fact together with what has been said in these 
pages and a previous work,* the following may 
be considered as the legitimate conclusions. — 

First. — As spirits while in the body have 
powers the exercise of which we all see and ac- 

* " Answers to Seventeen Objections," 



ARE THEY ALL EVIL ? 21 

knowledge, it is reasonable to believe that when 
the spirit leaves the body it retains those powers, 
which, instead of being lessened are increased, 
inasmuch as they are not limited as before their 
change by a material organization. 

Second. — Having such powers they will employ 
them, and believing that they have in various ways 
manifested their power and presence in ages past, 
we conclude that they can do so now ; That a 
suspension of manifestations during the age just 
closing, has not been caused by a want of power 
or willingness on the part of the spirit-host, but 
by a superstitious fear of spirits moulded into the 
public mind by designing men at first, and subse- 
quently by the adoption of erroneous views of 
spiritual life, thus man was deprived of those mani- 
festations so prevalent in early times, and so 
conclusively proving an existence beyond the 
grave, the results of which deprivation have been an 
almost universal scepticism, and the shadowing of 
myriads of minds with doubts and fears, which 
results have during the last quarter of a century in- 
creased to an astonishing extent. In view of this 
truth it is our duty to hail with shouts of joy this re- 
newal of Spiritual Intercourse, and to thank God 
that when mortal power grew weak in the battle 
of truth and error, he has stretched forth his arm 
mighty to save. 

Third. — That spirits are of two classes, good and 



22 SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

evil, is proved not only by the repeated declara- 
tions of God in his revealed word, but by the 
universal belief and acknowledgment of the same 
by all nations, christian and heathen, of ancient and 
modern times ; as also by the fact that good and 
evil spirits exist in the flesh, the mere transition 
of whom from one state of existence to another 
cannot affect their moral natures. 

Fourth. — Good spirits have power equal with if 
not superior to that of evil spirits. To deny the 
ability of good spirits to hold intercourse with and 
assume a guardianship over us ; is to set at naught 
the records of the Bible, both as regards the events 
of the past and the promises for the future. 

Finally. — The manifestations of the present 
time are analogous with those of previous times 
mentioned in sacred and profane history. They 
are produced by spirits of the departed, both good 
and evil. It is our duty to try the spirits whether 
they be of God, for many false spirits have gone 
out into the world ; to be cautious in our inter- 
course with unseen powers, lest the blessing be 
turned into a curse, and to receive nothing not in 
perfect accordance with the fundamental truths 
of God's Word and the light of reason. 



1 



The most interesting Subject of the Day 
SPIRITUAL INTERCOURSE. 

ANSWERS TO SEVENTEEN OBJEC- 
TIONS AGAINST SPIRITUAL INTER. 
COURSE, and Inquiries relating to the Manifestations 
of the Present Time. By John S. Adams. 

The above work has been well received by all classes 
of the community, and the arguments advanced have 
been considered worthy of the careful consideration of 
all men of thought. All sectarianism is avoided ; no 
doctrinal opinions are introduced ; but the " answers " 
rest on the fundamental truths of scriptural revelation 
and undisputed facts. 

From numerous notices the following may be selected 
as expressive of the general 

Opinions respecting this Book. 

" The objections are forcibly answered, without a needless 
expenditure of words."— Ji'ew York Tribune. 

" The author has had an excellent opportunity to investi- 
gate this interesting subject, and we can rely on the truth of 
his statements."— East Boston Ledger. 

" It is clearly and concisely written, evinces a candid spirit, 
and it'it does not shut the mouths of sceptics, at least furnishes 
them with some hard nuts to crack. We commend it to 
carpers and dogmatists, who dispose of the new philosophy 
with a sneer."— Yankee Blade. 

" The Spiritualists are anxious that the new faith should be 
tested, and the above book, dictated in an honest spirit, will 
tend to secure for the matter the desired attention." — Carpet 
Bag. 

" The objections are met and answered in a plain, straight- 
forward manner, without unnecessary verbiage or mysticism, 
and we advise those who are seeking for the truth on this 
subject to read this work. The author makes some capital 

Soints, we think, and, as a matter of argument, completely 
cmolishes several of the ' objections.' Let those who fei'l 
any interest in the subject, and are not too much bigoted to 
look at both sides of a question, Tead this book."— Sout.'i 
Boston Gazette. 

" The above work answers all the leading objections to 
Spiritualism in a fair, candid, and intelligent' manner, and is 
eminently suited to the needs of the sincere inquirer in this 
new held of thought."— New Era. 

" This work is the production of a candid and religious 
mind, taking the spiritual view of the question. Mr. A.'< 
' Answers ' are honestly, and, in the main, forcibly given, and 
are worthy the attention of those who would know what can 
oe said on that side."— Pathfinder. 

'• We have been considerably interested in this book of Mr. 
Adams. His ' Seventeen Objections ' comprise the principal 
ones, if not all that seem to have any force, and they are all 
disposed of in that plain, common-sense way, in which a 
clear-headed man reasons, who does not go to unfamiliar 
science for his arguments, Every one can understand and 
appreciate the reasoning contained in this hook. 

'* We commend the work as a candid and sensible defence of 
the spiritual theory ; remarking, that if all receive the pre- 
tended communications from the spirit world with the samp 
caution that he does, there can be little danger that any will 
run into serious error."— East Boston Ledger, (second notice.) 

" It is a work peculiarly calculated for the present state 
of the public mind on this intricate and perplexing subject, ' 
— Waverley Magazine. ...„,.. „ 

«' This is an honest, candid work."— Christian Freeman. 

Price. In paper, 25 cents; in cloth, 38 cents, 

Published by FOWLERS, WELLS, & Co., 131 Nassau 
Street, New York, and 142 Washington Street, Boston. Sola 
by the publishers, and by Partridge & Brittan, 3 Court- 
land Street, New York ; B. Marsh, 25 CornhiTl, Boston , D. 
M. DEWEY, Rochester, N. Y. ; G. W. Derby, Buffalo, N. Y. ; 
T. B. Peterson, S. Barry, Philadelphia, Pa.; W. Tay- 
i.OR & Co., Baltimore, Md.; F. Bly, Cincinnati, O.; S. 
Ringgold, Louisville, Ky, ; S. Wiggins, St. Louis, Mo.jA, 
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CONGRESS 




